Beloved in Christ,
A very interesting question keeps coming up. During the
course of RCIA earlier this year, someone asked about the proper way to hold
hands during the Our Father at Mass. It led to a very lively discussion. Then
at WOW’s “Ask Padre” someone also asked about holding hands during the Our
Father. More recently, at a question-and-answer session with the Knights of
Columbus, one of those gentlemen also asked about it. This past week, at the
men’s Welcome (formerly Christ Renews His Parish) meeting, it was also asked. So,
there is evidently a desire for clarification among the faithful. Below I will
attempt to give as comprehensive an answer as possible. I will lay out my understanding
of the meaning of the liturgical posture during the Our Father at Mass and
allow adults to make their own informed decision about their posture and the
posture of their children during Mass.
If we were in a classroom setting, I would ask the question:
“In what ways do we show our unity at Mass?” and write all the answers on the
board. People might answer with things like: our common posture such as sitting
and standing and kneeling. Others might answer: responding together, singing
together, maybe the sign of peace. Some might even mention the most awesome and
ultimate way we show our unity: And it’s not holding hands at the Our Father,
it’s receiving Holy Communion.
What do we do with our hands in prayer? Obviously, some
people hold hands. Everyone is familiar with the very ancient and common: palms
together with fingers pointing to the sky. Another ancient posture is the orans
position, which means hands out to the side with palms up. This orans position
is perfectly legitimate for personal prayer, but at liturgy, it usually
indicates a position of leadership, presiding or gathering the prayers of
others.
At the Our Father, the priest gives the introduction of it with
his hands closed and then he opens his hands in the orans position as he says
the words: “Our Father…” This is one of those times the priest is collecting
the prayers of all the faithful into one as the words of Christ are presented
to the Father in Heaven.
So we might ask: What are the people to do? We already
covered the priest: he has to hold his hands out in the orans position because
he is collecting the prayers of all in his role of leadership. We can explore
this question more deeply by noticing what the deacon is doing. We notice that
at the Lord’s Prayer, the deacon will have his hands closed in prayer the whole
time. He is not permitted to open his hands in the orans position during the
Lord’s Prayer, because it is the priest who is “collecting” them to the Father.
So, we might ask: If a deacon, who is an ordained minister, serving at the
altar during Mass, in an official capacity, prays the Lord’s Prayer with his
hands closed, why would the lay faithful open their hands like the priest does?
It would be more appropriate for the faithful to imitate the deacon, rather
than the priest.
On a side note, a parishioner at a previous parish, who grew
up in the New England area, said that as a child her class was instructed never
to open their hands like the priest at Mass because that might seem like they
were mocking him.
What about the other question: Should the faithful be
holding hands during the Our Father? Catch the exciting conclusion of this
column in next week’s Pearl of York bulletin.
Thanks for your prayers. Be assured of my daily prayers for
you.
In Christ,
Fr. Bedel
Beloved in Christ,
Let’s pick up where we left off last week. Should the
faithful be holding hands during the Our Father? I would answer with another
question: Why just during the Our Father? Why did we not hold hands during the
opening hymn, the Collect, during the readings, during the Gospel, during the
Eucharistic Prayer? So, my answer would be, it would only make sense
liturgically if we were holding hands during the whole Mass. And I think we
would all agree that would be strange.
As I mentioned previously, we do many things at Mass that
show our unity, and our ultimate sign of unity is the act of receiving Holy
Communion, hence the name “Communion.” It is a unity that is made real by the
power of Christ, not human beings. Since we have a real and intimate communion
with him that he establishes by his divine power, we are, by association, united
to each other in real communion. Holding hands at the Our Father, or any other
time, may look like a sign of unity, but it is made by human power, not God’s.
Some people have wondered how holding hands came into the
liturgy over the past few decades. I heard one person guess that people were
imitating the priest in the orans position and then they started to bump their
hands into each other and then they just decided to grab each other’s hands. My
theory is that some families hold hands during grace before meals and they have
tried to introduce it into the sacred liturgy.
And then, after the Our Father, why do some people raise
their hands really high when we say: “For the Kingdom, the power and the glory
are yours now and for ever.”? I have no idea where that comes from, but we can
learn something from concelebrating priests. That’s when there is more than one
priest offering Mass at the same time. All priests celebrating or
concelebrating Mass are acting in the Person of Christ and are therefore
collecting the prayers of the people to the Father as we say the words of
Christ himself, in his prayer, so all priests pray in the orans position. After
we say: “Deliver us from evil,” the concelebrating priests have to close their
hands. Only the one main celebrant can keep his hands open showing his role of
leadership in the Church’s prayer. Mass continues with: “Deliver us Lord, we
pray…” These prayers were devised by the Church, not directly by God, as is the
case with the Our Father. Therefore, the main celebrant assumes his role of
leadership by maintaining hands in the orans position while all concelebrating
priests close their hands.
Several years ago, Bishop Foys across the river had all his
parishes in the Diocese of Covington do catechesis on why is would not be
proper to hold hands during the Our Father at Mass. He actually asked the
faithful of his diocese not to do it. As I said above, I’m not making a rule
today, but will allow adults of the parish to make an informed decision for
themselves and their children. I am trying to unpack what is proper and
improper at Holy Mass and why we are doing what we are doing. The most I am
considering is asking the altar servers to follow the example of the deacon
because they are assisting at the liturgy in an official capacity.
I have always wondered: how prayerful can it be to hold
hands during the Lord’s Prayer? Am I thinking about the words of the prayer or
am I distracted by the other person’s hand, which may be sweaty, cold, hot,
etc.? When I was teaching high school, I would see students use it as an
opportunity to mess with each other. I remember two seniors rubbing each
other’s fingers trying to get the other one to giggle.
It really comes down to this: How can I, or how can our
family, celebrate these mysteries with greater devotion? How can we understand
more and more why we do what we do as a Church? How is the Lord drawing me into
His presence?
Thanks for your prayers. Be assured of my daily prayers for
you.
In Christ,
Fr. Bedel
